Comment: Note that this is the test for the actual infection, not Abbott’s antibody test, which FDA confirmed is 99% accurate.

“There’s been a lot that’s been done to try to promote fear, to promote worst-case scenarios, to drive hysteria,” Florida’s governor said in late April. “People should know that worst-case scenario thinking — that has not proven to be true [in Florida].”

Through the program, unemployed residents can enroll in courses and training from institutions like the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Chicago and Northwestern University. The free access will run through the end of 2020

“We feel the stay-at-home order is unconstitutional,” he said. “It’s unenforceable and we will not prosecute individuals who violate the order. It is essentially a mass incarceration of healthy individuals and we’re simply not going to enforce it in Grundy County.”

Kane County Sherriff Ron Hain said his deputies do not have legal authority to arrest or fine anyone not in compliance, and other sheriffs part of the northeast sector are acting in unison.

“The state’s desires are linked to Pelosi’s $3 trillion vision because Illinois Democrats are counting on those federal dollars to add to Springfield’s piggy bank. Unchecked, the dynamic could become unaffordable for everyone: More money flowing from Washington would give Illinois pols permission to spend more, and think less about responsible governance.”

Because of the pandemic, ISU refunded about $20 million in housing dining and student fees to students. The university also absorbed unexpected costs and lost revenue from canceled campus events.

Wirepoints President Ted Dabrowski said the data was illuminating. “You’ve got places like Jackson, Macon, Monroe, Jasper [counties], a hundred percent of their deaths are coming from nursing homes. They’re not having deaths in the general population.”

“Remember they need to go through a time period and there needs to be an averaging of those metrics. Every region is poised if it maintains the metrics that it’s at now to move on to phase 3 in a few short days,” Pritzker said.

Said State Rep. Tim Butler (R-Peoria), “We’ve had 14 working groups in the House that have done the work behind the scenes, without public input, without the media being able to see those working groups”

State Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer, R-Jacksonville, said, “The executive order, I think it’s gone too far, but the state police don’t want to step in. They don’t want to be the COVID police.” The lawsuit filed against the governor in state court has been moved to federal court at the state’s request.

There are differences to their phased-in plans that could mean Chicago residents remain stuck in their homes while their suburban neighbors aren’t.

Packages marked “Comforts for Baby: Cotton Swabs” arrived in a cardboard shipping box; 180-count packs that look the same as what Illinois received are selling for $1.50 on Instacart. “What are we supposed to do with these?” a spokeswoman with the Pritzker administration said. “Not helpful.”

The sudden halt in economic activity following Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s order to close “non-essential” businesses has caused the state’s unemployment rate to surge to an estimated 20.7%, or a total of 1.3 million workers when those idled since COVID-19 are added to those out of work before the pandemic.

COVID-19 is forcing Peoria County’s Board to make changes to a once balanced budget. Funding cuts to public safety, the state’s attorney’s office and other departments are all on the table.

The Cook County Circuit Judge also denied a request for a declaratory judgment that Pritzker’s emergency powers under the Illinois Emergency Management Act expired April 8, or 30 days after he issued his March 9 disaster proclamation. Gamrath rejected that argument, holding the IEMA Act gives Pritzker authority to extend his power beyond an initial 30-day period without approval from the legislature. The 30-day limit, Gamrath wrote, only applies more strictly to a “discrete event — one that stops and starts in a relatively short amount of time.”

In an outlook released Monday, Moody’s Investors Service detailed another dilemma facing the states: Deep cuts can help preserve state-level credit quality, but they come at the expense of smaller governments, including school districts that rely heavily on state aid.

“I understand blue-state mayors and governors becoming upset with cops like Anderson, especially here in Illinois, where conservative legislators, businesses and churches are pushing back with lawsuits against the governor. But weren’t these same Democratic Party leaders applauding sanctuary city and sanctuary state laws in defiance of federal immigration law? Yes. They were among the cheerleaders of the resistance to President Donald Trump.”

“The notion of trade-offs, or the idea that there is an opportunity cost to any choice, is central to much of economics. The study of these trade-offs is often associated with traded quantities (the dollar value of things such as domestic production, interest rates, workers’ salaries, etc.), but the COVID-19 pandemic places economists in the uncomfortable position of examining things such as the economic value of human life, the quality of such lives, and the human stresses related to attending to a pandemic.”

While calling for separating other areas from Cook County, suburban officials said they would continue to take steps to promote social distancing and other precautions.

Will County GOP Chairman George Pearson, Will County Board member Steve Balich, pet groomer Samantha L. Palya, a non-essential worker Amanda Hameran are all co-plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed in federal court, focusing on the US Constitution’s Fifth Amendment and the state of Illinois’ Article 1, Section 15.